Skool review

How much does Skool take?

Skool takes 10% + $0.30 per transaction on the $9 Hobby plan and 2.9% + $0.30 on the $99 Pro plan, and that fee includes card processing. Skool's help center says a $9 membership pays out $8.40 on Pro and $7.80 on Hobby.

On Pro, single charges above $900 cost 3.9% + $0.30. That only matters if you sell high-ticket programs or annual memberships.

Pro beats Hobby once your community earns about $1,270 a month. Below that, pay $9 and accept the 10%. Skool is the only platform in this category that quotes processing inside its fee, and that makes it the cheapest at nearly every revenue level. The fee table shows the take-home math.

Can Skool bring you members?

Yes, and it charges for it. Skool's Discovery feed ranks groups by member growth, engagement, and retention, and a group needs a minimum level of members, posts, and activity before it appears. Skool does not publish that threshold.

Growth Boost is Skool's paid promotion, and it is on by default. Skool shows your group higher in Discovery and runs off-site ads, then takes a 30% commission on members it brings in for as long as they stay subscribed. Members you bring yourself pay only the normal fee.

Skool uses last-touch attribution, so the most recent traffic source when a member joins gets the credit. Leave Growth Boost on if you have no audience, because 70% of a new member beats nothing. Turn it off in Settings under Discovery if you already drive your own traffic.

Do you own your members on Skool?

Less than on Circle or Mighty Networks. Skool is the merchant of record, members pay Skool, and you get paid through a Stripe Express account Skool creates. You cannot connect your existing Stripe account.

Skool's help center does not describe a full member export with email addresses. It documents an export of membership question answers, so ask for an email address in your membership questions from day one. The custom URL is an address on skool.com, and Skool documents no way to use your own domain.

Skool's payment terms also say either you or Skool can cancel your subscription at any time for any reason. If your plan lapses, Skool archives the group at the end of the billing period and keeps content read-only. Because subscriptions run through Skool's merchant account, moving paying members elsewhere means asking each one to subscribe again.

How do you charge members and get paid on Skool?

Skool lets you run a group as free, as a monthly or annual subscription, as freemium with a paid upgrade inside the group, as several paid tiers, or as a one-time payment. Subscription groups can offer members a 7-day free trial.

When you raise your price, existing members keep the price they joined at. Skool's help center calls this grandfathering, and it means a free group that turns paid keeps its original members free.

Skool pays your available balance to your bank every Wednesday. Its help center says US deposits usually take 1 to 3 business days, international ones 3 to 5, and the first payout can take up to 14 days.

Skool's help center lists payout support in 153 countries, updated in September 2026. Payouts arrive in your local currency, and members always pay in USD. As merchant of record, Skool adds EU VAT to the price and files it, which takes a tax job off your plate.

Who should skip Skool?

Skip Skool if you plan to build a long-term business on your own brand. Without your own domain, Stripe account, or a member export with emails, leaving gets expensive later.

Skip it too if your members already gather on Discord. A free Discord server with paid tiers keeps them in the app they use every day, though at higher fees and with US-only payouts.